Chapter Text
Days went by in dull succession. Bakugo went to school, the middle school that he had also went to, stepped on the ground he had also stepped on every day, and ate where he had spent the best moments of his life.
'And those moments truly had to have been his most relieving.' Bakugo thought bitterly, sitting down near the concrete rail.
He was high, really high up, on the top of the middle school. At midday, the sun shined down on his back and hair and made his exposed skin prickle, head bent down to hide his eyes from both the sunlight and the shame.
His back to the city line, Bakugo ate the curry his mom had made him, not paying much attention to it. It seemed foreign in his mouth, bland and a chore to chew.
How his mom even still looked at him he didn't know. He had to admit, she didn't know what he did, she only saw a teen desperately resenting himself. For no reason. But Bakugo had every intention to continue banging himself up.
Sighing, Bakugo just stopped eating, decidedly stuffing the curry back to his backpack and travelling down the stairs to the inside of the school, ignoring everyone and everything.
That school day passed once again, as his mundane schools days always did, and Bakugo took notes and studied and did tests the way he was supposed to, but he felt as if he was watching his body from outside. He was there, but his vision strobed even when he was completely steady, and he did not care for what he did or said.
Bakugo had a feeling he would've been disappointed.
When Bakugo got home he didn't even consciously think of his mom or dad slow dancing in the kitchen, as they had taken to doing in fear of loss, and he just trudged up to his room and closed the door silently. Bag slipping out of his grasp, it fell loosely to the ground, the textbooks and homework sounding hollow against the wooden but carpeted floor. Moving to his bed as if a robot, he turned, slamming backwards into the creaky mattress.
Lying down on his bed, his eyes did not part with the ceiling for hours, even after Mitsuki had slipped his dinner through the crack in door.
That week ended that night, a night Bakugo spent desperately trying to do anything but just lie there, and ultimately failing in that, effort forgotten.
.
"Brat." Bakugo turned to face his mother at the door, her stern face soft with worry. He scowled, he hated when she looked at him as if he was a fragile piece of china.
Bakugo huffed. "Hag." He greeted back, with less of his usual bite.
Mitsuki sighed, walking into the kitchen. Bakugo knew better than to ignore that so he followed her, sitting down at one end of the island table as Mitsuki stands at the other end, leaning forward onto the white marbled surface and staring at Bakugo with a slightly unreadable expression.
"What's happening, Brat?" Mitsuki asked, sighing.
Bakugo felt a wall seem to go up between his mom and him, and he looked away. "Nothing's happening." He said.
His mom narrowed her eyes and Bakugo prayed she'd drop it, stop thinking of him cause he didn't deserve it-
"Katsuki." His mom said again. Her eyes were different, they were a little smaller, relaxed, but scrunched up in a frown that the rest of her face followed. "I want you to be ok. I want to help you be ok, ok? I know it's hard to lose a friend-"
"He wasn't a friend!" Bakugo suddenly exploded upwards, his own hair falling into his eyes in a curtain of shame as his lip trembled and his hands shook. Without elaborating, Bakugo turned on his heel, running upstairs in a rather childish way, slamming his door and falling to the floor right outside of it, burying his head in his hands and curling onto his knees, not daring to open his eyes lest the tears escape the tight wall of his eyelids.
Bakugo sighed, hearing Mitsuki stop outside his door before later walking off to give him time, and he opens his eyes to stare at the other side of his messy, dark room.
He now keeps his eyes wide open, afraid tears will spill out if he closes them.
Bakugo looks up to the ceiling so the cup of his eyes could catch the drops, head resting against the door and creating a soft bang as he breathes out shakily.
"He wasn't my friend..." He murmurs, to assure himself, or maybe remind himself of his lie. "My friend..."
.
The last day of school was something both of a celebration and a sadness for Bakugo.
He could finally be rid of the memories around the place of him plaguing Bakugo's mind, but at the same time, he held those memories a little close to him.
Their class had a party, and everyone brought little tidbits of food. Bakugo just sat in the corner and glared at everyone who dared come near to said corner, not bothering to actually go in any direction once he leaves the school.
He walks, turns down streets, walks, merges, u turns, and walks, until he looks up at the edge of a green space. At the far edge, he sees a headstone, and then as he gets closer, three more, and once he's at the first headstone it's a whole cemetery sprawled in front of him on the hills.
Bakugo's eyes widen and he reads the first headstone, before starting to walk down and read all the headstones in the line he walked.
Turning to the line directly to his left, Bakugo reads those.
Quotes and names filling his head he turns left once again at the end, reading those headstones.
For a whole hour, Bakugo felt as if actually within his own body, reading each name and each quote, imagining what each life was and could've been.
Then, he stumbled upon his stone.
Stepping back, Bakugo did a double take, before he fell to his knees in front of it. He blinked, reading over and over, the quote, the name.
He wanted to say something, anything.
But today he stared, reading and reading, remembering and reminiscing, unable to do anything but watch as the sun slowly sunk into the horizon behind it.
Midoriya Izuku, 14
"I want to be a hero!"
When he finally stood up and left, he still hadn't said anything.
Not even in his mind, or in words, did he say goodbye.
.
"Katsuki!" The woman at the door smiled, and Bakugo wondered how she smiled with those eye bags and those red sceleras. Deku's Mom, Inko, was a blessing upon the earth, almost as much as her son, and Bakugo had taken it upon himself to take care of her after Deku's death.
Bakugo nodded. "Here, it's almost 5. I'll start cooking some curry, and then I have to go home. I'll make sure to keep the spice mild." Bakugo explained as he dropped off his school bag on the familiar table, before walking into the kitchen to check what he had to work with.
"You've grown up a lot." Inko smiled.
Bakugo was cutting some potatoes at this point, and he turned to give her a sheepish look. "Thanks, Auntie Inko."
"I think my Izuku would be very happy."
Inko doesn't notice Bakugo grow silent, rather, she kept on rattling on, as she tended to do in Bakugo's presence. But Bakugo did not want to be reminded would Deku would've, could've, should've been and so he tuned the woman out and went back to his potatoes.
.
Bakugo trained for UA all summer, he had taken to clearing Dagoba beach, exploding things and moving parts.
Bakugo had discovered some of Deku's notebooks left behind, and they suggested all kinds of ways Bakugo could train.
They had personalized workouts, routines, eating schedules- Deku was crazy for Bakugo and Bakugo knew this, so why did he feel so damn guilty for acknowledging it?
Those notebooks now sat on the highest pedestal offered in Bakugo's bedroom- on top of some placed books on his clothes drawer. He looked through them every single day without fail, memorizing every single word, committing to memory every single slight change in handwriting and every slight quirk. It was Bakugo's repayment to Deku.
Reading one now, facing the shore Bakugo could finally see from what it had been, behind heaps of trash, Bakugo couldn't help but wonder how Deku would've trained. Might've cleaned this very beach, gotten into support, found a way.
He could've gone on to UA hopeful, student, star.
Could Bakugo live that for him?
Bakugo grit his teeth. Without actually thinking, he tossed the book as far into the sand as he could, watching it slide into the water and float, bobbing around to the small rivulets meeting the sand on the coast.
Staring at it for a second, Bakugo suddenly felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. He cursed, standing up and running, diving into the water and swimming to the book, holding it above water as he paddled back. Sitting on the sand, soaking wet, the book in his hands, Bakugo held the memento close.
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again." He apologized, to thin air, or to the book itself. "I'm asking for sentimental reassurance from a dead fucking tree aren't I." Bakugo deadpans, flipping the book upside down and gently shaking the water out.
Blinking at it, he looked down at this own dripping shirt, before opening the book and checking if any pen had faded. It was positively ancient, so it was still legible.
Sighing in relief, Bakugo closed it, walking over to his school bag and placing the book on it to dry out as he continued training.
Before really going back to training, he turned to face the book. "Sorry again... And I'm seeking approval from an inanimate object." He deadpans, stalking away.
.
Two days later and Bakugo runs into someone he wasn't sure how to act to.
"Fuck- sorry." Bakugo murmurs as he accidently bumps into someone while carrying a broken microwave from the beach. Looking to the side, his mouth positively drops to see who's in front of him. "Um."
The fucking mountain of a blonde in front of Bakugo looked at him as if looking overtop the frames of some glasses, even if he didn't have them, and then smiled brightly. "Hello!"
"U-uh- h-hi? All Might?" Bakugo is about ready to die of confusion.
"Training? For what, I'd wonder!" All Might's teeth twinkled as he smiled and Bakugo was too stunned to really noticed the cartoonic habit.
Bakugo scowled. "The UA exam you moronic dipshit." Bakugo said, catching All Might off guard with the insult. "Your a hero, aren't you supposed to be promoting your fricking wack morals and convincing me to do my best and Plus Ultra my fucking way into high shitting heaven you Jojo's Sharpie Face looking ass?" He points out.
"E-euh-uh- language boya!" All Might coughed out. "A-and people tend to train for boxing or body building too with these types of exercises!" He defended.
"I'm not fucking boya you dumb shit! Plus I'm a teen! It should be borderline homosexual half-man middle-height weird-age shit!" Bakugo snapped.
"Just tell me your name boya!" All Might cried.
Bakugo threw his hands in the air. "IT ISN'T BOYA!"
"THEN WHAT IS IT!"
"WHY WOULD I TELL YOU?"
"BECAUSE I ASKED?"
"Well..." Bakugo frowned. "Good point. Well, WHAT'S YOUR NAME HUH?"
All Might frowned. "All Might."
"YOUR NAME!"
"Fine, fine, fine, geez!" All Might whined- a weird sight. "Yagi Toshinori. You, boya?" He asked.
Bakugo didn't comment on the nickname. "Bakugo Katsuki." He muttered.
All Might grinned in triumph. "Ah, Bakugo-Shounen, so you're training? What's your Quirk?" He wonders, almost casually.
"The sweat on my hands can explode." Is Bakugo's explanation, along with a few minuscule sparks as he holds them up.
All Might nodded slowly. "That's a very interesting Quirk Bakugo-Shounen." He commented.
"Yea, I can fucking tell Sharpie Face." Bakugo deadpanned.
"I literally told you my name." All Might points out.
"You did?" Bakugo's mouth was open.
Astonished, All Might decides to steer away from that topic of conversation. "Bakugo-Shounen, why do you want to be a hero?" He wonders, watching as Bakugo's face goes through the rainbow of contemplative emotions.
'What would Deku say?' Bakugo thought. 'Why did he even want to be a hero? Was it just so he could follow me? Or was it that I wanted to be a hero so I could become like him? Wasn't he always raving about what he would do? He would... he would save people, he had said, with a smile on his face, so that people don't have to suffer anymore...'. "I want to be a hero to follow someone who was important to me in his dreams. I... I don't want people to suffer if I'm there." Bakugo murmured.
All Might grinned ever wider (how in the world that is possible Author doesn't know) before reaching out his hand to touch his ear, as if out of habit. "That is what I wanted to hear." He said, before a cloud of smoke surrounded him and he suddenly became a skeleton of the man he used to be.
"W-w-WHAT THE FUCK!" Bakugo pointed at All Might. "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED? ALL MIGHT?!" He gestured at All Might as if that was enough to come with his voice.
"B-Bakugo-Shounen, I could explain." All Might sighed, waiting as Bakugo calmed down, allowing him to go on. "A few years back, I was fatally injured in a battle." All Might lifted the bottom of his shirt to show a grisly scar. Bakugo's jaw dropped. "I can now only do hero work for two to three hours each day."
"What does that have to do with me?" Bakugo snaps.
Skinny All Might laughed sheepishly. "Well... I'll offer you my Quirk. I never thought that I was going to have it forever anyway." He shrugged.
Bakugo's jaw drops. "You can't fucking transfer Quirk's like it's a hot potato." He denies.
"Well that is the nature of my Quirk, One For All. The ability to pass it on and allow it to grow in power through generational training! Bakugo-Shounen, I want you to be my successor, and take my Quirk." All Might said, in all seriousness.
Bakugo blinked, before his heart squeezed, so, so tight, and he couldn't take looking at the man any longer. He turned on his tail, microwave long forgotten, and dashed to the edge of the beach, where he just kneeled onto the sand, staring at the waves, unable to escape from the thoughts in his head.
'There are Quirks that can be passed down? So, so Deku, he could've had a Quirk. He could've lived out his dreams and I'm here, the reason that he couldn't, taking the opportunity meant for him-'
-"Bakugo-Shounen." All Might is suddenly beside him, and Bakugo looks up.
Bakugo realized that he hadn't yet said anything yet, and so he speaks. "So, you could've given your Quirk to a Quirkless person?" He murmured.
All Might sighed, squatting down beside Bakugo and looking over to the ocean. "I fucked up. Before I got this Quirk, I was actually Quirkless. There was this kid I met, he had asked me, 'can I become a hero, even without a Quirk?'. I had forgotten who I was, and my origins, and I denied him. Later, I tried to find him, redeem myself, make him my successor, because he had the heart of a hero which I could clearly see. Why else would he ask the Number One Hero such a hopeless question and still walk away with his back straight? But he had committed suicide afterward, and I didn't get to speak with him. I have the death of a young boy on my back and I can't change it." He admitted, and Bakugo felt a sting of surprise. "I chose you to be my successor, rather rashly, because what you told me embodies the kind of heart I want this Quirk to inhabit. I want you to halt suffering with this power."
Bakugo looks to the right, away from All Might- to his notebook sitting on top of the dark orange backpack right there. He then turns to All Might. "What do I have to do to surpass you?"